When asked for the advice she would give to others dealing with loss, Dion, 51, told Good Morning America’s Deborah Roberts on Tuesday, April 2: “You cannot stop living. Go forward. Today is the first day of the beginning of [your] life.”

Rene Angelil and Celine Dion backstage during the World Music Awards at the Thomas and Mack Center on September 15, 2004 in Las Vegas.Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

The “All by Myself” singer, who is slated to finish her second Las Vegas concert residency in June 2019, explained that she feels “so powerful and in charge and grounded and happy” as a single mom, which is largely in part due to the “strength” the late music producer gave her during their relationship.

“René me so much strength and power and positivity,” she gushed. “I will never be a dad, but it’s like … I’m in a double job as a parent — I’m a ‘parents.’ I’m the big deal! And the kids are growing and I see them and I look at them and I’m like, ‘Wow, we’ve done a great job and I’m so proud.”

Dion met Angélil when she was just 12 years old and the pair tied the knot in 1994 when she was 26. The duo — who shared son René-Charles, 18, and twins Nelson and Eddy, 8 — were happily married for 21 years before he passed away in January 2016 after a long battle with throat cancer. He was 73.

The Canadian songstress told Australian TV show The Project in February 2018: “He’s as alive as he was before. [He’s] not physically with us, but I live with him. I see him every day through the eyes of my children.”

In January, the Grammy winner responded to rumors that she was dating her backup dancer Pepe Muñoz. “Let’s not mix everything. … We’re friends, we’re best friends,” she told The Sun’s Dan Wootton. “Of course we hug and hold hands and go out, so people see that. I mean, he’s a gentleman. He’s giving me his hand to go out.”